Himsa

Self Titled

Long before this band went the way of the metal ear candy purveyors that they eventually turned into (check out Courting Tragedy And Disaster for a reference), Himsa dropped this terribly under appreciated and short eponymous EP on an arguably rather stagnant era of hardcore and punk with a dark tone and a bit more of a nuanced view of politics within and without the tight knit community that birthed the band and housed all of our horse blinder mentalities (at least from time to time the punk and hardcore community is so insular that it hurts); but regardless of the context, these three short blasts were something new and are definitely still exciting today.

There are only three songs on their self titled EP (I believe only two on the 7” version) but that is all it takes to make what I still think is the best release that Himsa ever released (not saying that what came after is not good) due in no small part to the pure passion in the music and performances of the musicians as well as the overt politics (one of the most overtly political records that Revelation ever released with references to the “Free Mumia Abu Jamal” movement amongst other less specific political topics). The music is heavy and angular hardcore punk with weird melodies (check out that weird wah guitar in “Blackout”), hints of discordant guitars here and there, and pounding drums set back behind one main vocalist (and at times up to three different voices can be heard at once as in “Sink-In” or all around each other in trade-offs like in “Blackout” and the neat backing vocals of “Flood The Market”) that has a clear and easily decipherable talking / yelling style that fits the “Heinz 57” melting pot sound that the band has; and one of the other really unique aspects of the EP showcases a band that utilizes a fairly distinct vocal attack that includes not just the lead vocalist but a mélange of vocal interplay amongst several other voices (with times where up to three different voices can be heard at once as in “Sink-In” or all around each other in trade-offs like in “Blackout” or even the neat arrangement of backing vocals of “Flood The Market”).

Himsa keep it short and sweet with their debut EP with a rapid fire vocal attack that comes from all corners of the recording while the music bobs and weaves all over the pace in terms of dynamics, tempos, and some pretty chunky sounding riffs; the three songs on this EP showed a ton of promise that just maybe, Himsa was on to something new and exciting that integrated lots of old styles with some new styles to create something fairly unique.